PDM protest at ECP not unusual

ISLAMABAD: The demonstration to be staged by the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) in front of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) offices on Tuesday is not unusual as the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and other political parties had done the same in the past.

During its 2014 protest, the PTI had protested every Friday against the ECP. Demonstrators had tried to make it to the ECP offices but could not succeed because of the security measures. PTI workers were always stopped by the police near the Radio Pakistan building.

In August 2018, the PML-N, Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) and other political parties aligned against the PTI, had protested outside the ECP offices against the alleged rigging in the general elections that they claimed had allowed the PTI to win.

Among other demands, the PDM wants the foreign funding case against the PTI, which has been pending for the past seven years, to be decided by the ECP without any further delay.

Of late, PDM leaders are regularly referring to the new stand taken by the PTI in this case. The PTI in its reply says that if any money was collected illegally through two US companies registered after Imran Khan’s written instructions, the responsibility lies with the agents managing the two limited liability companies.

It is anybody’s guess how far the PDM’s protest will move the ECP to act urgently. In what is clearly a case of tit-for-tat, the PTI has also filed a similar foreign funding case against the PML-N and PPP with the ECP. The electoral body is now holding proceedings on this case as well. Just a day before the planned PDM demonstration on January 19, the ECP has summoned the two main opposition parties in connection with this case.

PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari is not participating in the PDM protest as he has prior political engagements in Sindh. His absence from the protest does not augur well for the strength and unity of the opposition coalition.

Besides others, PDM chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman and PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz are expected to be the main speakers at the protest gathering. For its part, the federal government has announced that it will not thwart the protest but warned that any violation of the law will be dealt with sternly.